While the objectives of supply chain metrics are applicable to multiple industries, the details of the metrics themselves may require customization, depending on the nature of the supply chain they are intended to manage. This is particularly relevant to clinical supply chain management wherein the very nature of the work includes unique but important elements that are worth measuring, for example accuracy of patient enrollment predictions. Furthermore, although some individual clinical supply organizations have developed their own metrics, the investigational products community in general has not yet honed in on the most relevant KPIs, conducted benchmarking, or targeted a common set of metrics with associated performance standards. Recognizing the potential benefit in doing this, the ISPE Investigational Products Community of Practice (CoP) has assembled a task team to address this need.
The goal of the task team is to create a discussion paper/survey that establishes a framework for standardizing key performance indicators for the Clinical Material/Investigational Product Supply Chain. Thus far the Investigational Products Task Team has assembled numerous potential measures, introduced them to the community in the January/February 2016 issue of Pharmaceutical Engineering® magazine, and obtained initial feedback at both the US and European 2015 and 2016 Annual Meetings and other clinical supply forums. With this discussion paper/survey, we are encouraging the community of Clinical Supply Chain professionals to provide input on the importance and prioritization of the most relevant metrics, potential challenges, and solutions to overcome them, along with how each metric should best be captured for purposes of standardization. The survey is now closed. Thank you for your participation!
